How to Care for Wooden Furniture?

Whether we go for traditional style of home decor or a contemporary one, we all love to have wood home furniture. Wood furniture is liked for its beauty, strength and durability but if proper care is not taken, these furniture lose their sheen and also develop cracks that can make you lose them shortly. So how to care for wood furniture? Here are certain tips for your help.

• Extreme temperature and relative humidity harm wooden furniture the most. Keep the temperature of your home between 70 - 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Relative humidity should be at 50-55%.
• Take help of humidifier or de-humidifier to keep the air in the rooms from becoming too dry or too damp.
• Dust regularly. That's the mantra to give long life to any furniture.
• While dusting, avoid using wet cloths or mops. They can stain and damage the wood. Use soft cloth, preferably lint-free cotton, or a vacuum cleaner with dust brush attachment for general cleaning of your furniture.
• Always use coasters, place mats or other protective things for keeping hot or cold items, even water, on top of wooden furniture.
• Keep solvents like nail polish remover, alcohol and paint thinner away from wood furniture. They can easily harm their finish. Colognes, perfumes and medications, wine, beer and liquor- all contain alcohol and are harmful to your wood furniture.
• Plastic objects like tablecloths, wrappers, plastic toys and games lying on wooden surfaces can leach into wood over time. Avoid them.
• Don't expose your wood furniture to direct sunlight, heat, cold or excessively damp or dry environments. Curtains on windows will protect the furniture from sunlight.
• When polishing and waxing wooden furniture, select the correct cleaner and polish according to the type of the furniture's finish.
• Always follow manufacturers' instructions when using spray or liquid polishes.
• Use polishes that are specifically manufactured for wooden surfaces. Never mix different types of polishes.
• Polishing too often can lead to a cloudy, filmy build up on the furniture that doesn't assimilate with the look and feel of wood. Polish once or twice a year. Its enough to give extra life to your furniture.
• If possible, use paste wax as it provides a thick, hard, lasting finish to hardwood furniture. It also delays the formation of water rings, which give a little extra time to wipe up the moisture. Liquid wax are like paste wax but provide a thinner coating.
  

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Tips For Buying Wood Furniture

Wood was perhaps among the first few materials which were used for making furniture by man. Whether you inherit from your ancestors or buy yourself, there will be always a few items placed in your home that is made from wood. There's no doubt that wooden furniture- used, new or antique- make our home decor more attractive. Nowadays, wood furniture manufacturers make wide variety of such furniture. They may be hand carved in small workshops or can be mass produced in bigger factories. When you go to buy a wooden furniture, you can get better deal if you keep certain factors in mind. Here are certain tips for buying wood furniture.

• Durability of furniture depends on quality of wood construction. Solid boards are always better than veneers or particle boards.
• Many artificial veneers have plywood or particleboard overlaid on them. A plywood core, although light weight and less expensive, will swell when wet. Particleboard, on the other hand, will fracture because this hard material cannot absorb shocks.
• Check whether there is any crack or splits on the wood. Also check splits in joints. These joints will eventually come apart, when you'll place the furniture in a centrally heated room.
• Check the back panel of wood furniture for nails and screws. Make sure that it is not just stapled.
• If you are buying a wooden cupboard or something having doors, check whether the hinges are solid, secure, and strong enough to support the weight of the door.
• If buying larger furniture like dressers, check whether they have traditional mortise and tenon joints in them. In such larger items, even screws, nails and glues fail sometimes.
• Ensure there are levelers on the bottoms of large furniture pieces. If buying chairs, see that they do not wobble. Check on how easily they stand on all four legs.
• When buying wooden drawers, don't take the one without guides as it can make the drawer bind when opening and closing.
• If buying used old furniture, know about its finish. If you want to change the color or repaint the furniture, you should know that factory finishes are often difficult to change.
• If you want the old furniture to have a light color, check the original color of the wood by rubbing across an exposed unfinished part (you'll find such portion on the back or inside of the furniture) with wet finger. By this, you will come to know what the color of the wood will be when varnished with natural stain. Also remember that naturally dark wood can't be lightened.
• Old and badly stored chests of drawers may get damaged by dampness. This leads to swelling which in turn makes it difficult for drawers to open and close smoothly. Check whether the drawers can be repaired using beeswax which helps in sliding the drawers smoothly. If its beyond repair, don't buy it.
• When buying antique wooden furniture, make sure you buy real antiques and not mere reproductions. Seek advice from an antiques expert.
• Antiques were specially made for specific locations. Ensure before buying the larger antique pieces that they will fit into the doors of your home.
• Check for any boreholes and active woodworm. Tap the wood for detecting any fresh woodworm. Dust coming out from the holes means there are active woodworm there in the furniture. Even if there are no active woodworm, treat the antique or old furniture as a precautionary measure.
  

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Wooden Furniture Decoration Tips – Enameling the Furniture

Furniture is always a subject of utmost pride for anyone who owns them. But if they are wooden then taking excessive care of them becomes an important responsibility. This write up tries to highlight one such process involved in the wooden furniture, that can not only help in decorating newly finished furniture but also refurbish an old piece without causing it to strip - Enameling. Though there are many processes like enameling, antique wood glazing or flyspecking, wax gliding etc that can be used to add some sheen to your not so shiny furniture. In this write up we will try to focus on enameling process along with various nuances associated with it.

Enameling – What is It?

Enameling is that process which can be used for both new and old furniture and have the advantage of low maintenance. Enameling not only covers the flaws and bad quality of the furniture but also help in maintaining various other defect and is applicable to a vast variety of wooden surfaces. If one wants to create a striking piece, then enameling bare wood or an old furniture is the trick to do it.

Different Types of Enamelling

Although enameling is a unique process but often people substitute it for painting. While paints are composed of pigments in an application vehicle or any medium, enamels install pigments in a varnish, lacquer, or oil base.

Enameling Techniques and Applications

before beginning with the process of enameling, it is important that the whole furniture is sanded properly and a filler should be applied to ensure that the pores are filled and the surface is smooth. Make sure that you clean the surface with a tack cloth before starting with enameling.

Coating the furniture with the commercial enamel undercoater is a must. Is is white in color and ensure that the under coater is applied in a smooth manner. After applying the undercoat its important to leave it untouched for around 3 hours and then it should be cleaned again with a tack cloth. This is where the application of enamel begins. Begin with applying it in strips and then further level the surface ensuring that there are no thin and thick spots. Spread it evenly and the brush marks will disappear as soon as it dries.

While working on a vertical surface one needs to be a little cautious. Here one needs to brush the enamel in a tipped position and move form the dry surface to the wet part. Brush lengthwise along rungs, spindles, and other turnings. After you are though with application of the enamel, allow it to dry for several days.

These were some of the tips that come handy while enameling is being done to your furniture. The best way however, is to engage a professional for this purpose to make sure no stones are left unturned.

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